


"And I Bet You Won’t Make Me Eat Anything”

by mirandastylinson



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Adultery, Alternate Universe - High School, Anorexia, Bulimia, Developing Relationship, Eating Disorders, Established Relationship, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Mental Instability, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-02-16
Updated: 2013-02-16
Packaged: 2017-11-29 12:58:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/687223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mirandastylinson/pseuds/mirandastylinson
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The one where Zayn and Liam are together, Harry is hopelessly in love with Liam and still a virgin, and Niall is just Niall – well, that’s until Louis comes out of treatment from his eating disorder and ends up falling head over heels for Harry who, still, day dreams about Liam in his chemistry lessons.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Based off skins season one, for all those people who noticed. Xx

“Fuck off”

Harry groaned as he pulled the covers tighter around him, trying to block out the sound of his mobile ringing incessantly; it was Zayn, it always was, calling him up at the God inhumane time of 7am. Who even woke up at that time, let alone actually manage to get on school on time? It was a complete mystery to Harry, really, so he just let his phone go to voice mail – as usual.

“Hey,”

“Fucking finally –”

“I’m asleep,”

“No you’re fucking not,” Zayn growled, taking a drag from his cigarette as he continued the walk towards the café a few blocks away.

“Or I can’t be bothered to speak to you. Don’t leave a message”

“You’re a cunt, Haz. We have plans, remember? Concerning your cock? Get to the café” and, with that, Zayn hung up the phone and pressed the next button on his speed dial.

“What?!”

“Hey, babe”

Liam rolled his eyes, placing his mobile between his cheek and shoulder as he finished styling his buzz cut into anything other than the wreck it found itself in every morning. “Don’t fucking babe me, Malik”

Zayn scoffed, rolling his eyes at his boyfriend’s words; he should’ve learnt by now, really, that Liam wasn’t a morning person. He wasn’t a night person, either, when Zayn thought about it – but he didn’t have time to, though, so he shrugged it off. “You said you were helping out today? With Harry? The virgin thing?”

“What?” Liam squeaked, giving up on his hair and turning around to pick up his bag, “you weren’t serious?”

“Look, he’s gotta pop his cherry sometime. And I’ve offered you to, you know, help out”

“God, Zayn! Do I have to?” Liam ignored his parent’s presence as he jogged down the stairs and grabbed a slice of toast from the kitchen, “can’t you just let him find someone himself?”

Zayn almost choked on his own spit at Liam’s suggestion. “Are you serious? He’s almost seventeen! If he doesn’t get laid before his birthday, then he can’t be my friend – obviously”

Liam swallowed his toast whole, slamming the front door behind him. “Fucking fine. You’re topping tonight ‘cause of that”

“Whatever. See you in ten, wanker” Zayn hung up, a small smile tugging on his lips. Dialling Harry’s home phone, he tapped his foot gently on the side walk as he waited patiently for the bus to arrive. “Hello, Mr Styles?

“Hey, Zayn! What can I do for you?”

“I’m a bit worried about Harry, that’s all. It’s just that he’s got a chemistry test in ten minutes, and, er –”

“He’s what?!” Storming into Harry’s room, throwing the phone at his son, Mark was red in the face. “Get up you fucking waste of space! You complete and utter bellend!”

Harry grumbled, used to the harsh words thrown at him constantly, rubbing his forehead where the phone had hit him and picked it up. “What?”

Zayn smiled as he heard Harry’s voice, glad that he was finally awake. “Café, now. We need to talk” 

“About?”

A few elderly people behind Zayn were shaking their heads at his words, but he chose to ignore it (what else could he do? He was having a serious conversation about a serious topic). “Virgins. Your virginity” 

“Whose?” Harry was a little more awake, rubbing his eyes as he pulled himself out of bed. He shivered slightly at the feeling of cold air against his bare body, and reached down to pull on a pair of boxers – he had no idea, and wasn’t sure he wanted to, how old they were.

“Yours, you fucking prick”

Harry’s ears pricked up, not even bothering to look in the mirror at his reflection as he struggled to fit into his unbearably tight jeans. “I’m listening”

“Whatever, meet me at the café in ten – yeah?”

Harry shrugged on a low cut white tee, combing his thick curls through with his fingers as he grabbed the first rucksack in sight, “whatever, you fucking dickhead”. Hanging up, Harry slouched as he all but practically ran down the stairs to avoid the screams his mother and father were hurling at each other, and presumably at him if he were to stay any longer, and shut the door quietly behind him.

~*~

“I’m shit in the mornings”

Zayn rolled his eyes, pinching one of Harry’s chips he’d bought when the curly haired boy forgot his own money, running a hand down his face. “You’re always shit”

“Fuck off. I didn’t have a damn chemistry test, bellend”

A shit-eating grin on Zayn’s face, only merely shrugging, he continued to eat as he blinked innocently at Harry. “Oops”

“Fucker”

Snorting, Zayn ran a hand through his perfectly styled hair and sighed. “Whatever, look – tonight, yeah, you’re losing your damn virginity weather you like it or not”

Taking a deep breath, Harry began the lecture he always did when Zayn brought this subject up. “Fuck off, it’s quiet common and sensible of someone who’s seventeen to still –”

“No, it’s embarrassing”

“No, Zayn –”

“It’s embarrassing, Haz” Zayn repeated, feeling victorious when Harry sighed in defeat.

“All right, how?” Harry’s full attention was on Zayn, now, wanting to lose his virginity as much as his friend wanted him to as well.

“Well,” Zayn began, making himself more comfortable, “we go to this party tonight, find some bloke who will fuck anything with a living pulse and, however momentarily, believe you’re good enough to shag for about half hour” he paused, showing off his straight, white teeth in a dazzling smile, “result!”

Harry chewed on his chips slowly, not amused by Zayn’s attempt of making up the master plan which, supposedly, was going to make him the luckiest man alive. Had he really lost an extra ten minutes of sleep for this? “You’re fucking shit, mate”

Zayn groaned, raising a brow. “It’s happening, Haz, deal with it”

“Who’s the lucky girl, then?” Harry sighed, expecting the answer to be just as shit as the plan, throwing another chip between his lips.

“Well, you’re gonna love this –” 

Harry’s gaze flickered over to across the road where Liam was striding along, looking like the flawless model he always did, almost choking on the chip in his mouth; damn, was that boy fine. A huge smile erupted on his face, blocking out the rest of Zayn’s words as his jaw dropped open. “Liam? I’m gonna fuck Liam?”

“Wait, what the –”

“I’m gonna fuck Liam?” Harry repeated, only this time a bit louder, beginning to bounce up and down slightly in his seat. “Jesus, Zayn, thanks so much!”

Zayn’s brows furrowed, but he didn’t have time to respond before the door bell chimed and, suddenly, Liam’s lips were attached to his own. Licking the roof of Zayn’s mouth, earning a moan from the boy, Liam smiled against his boyfriends lips. Harry gnawed on his bottom lip nervously, bowing his head as he realised just how stupid he’d been; of course Liam wasn’t going to fuck him, no matter how much Harry would spend his classes day dreaming over him, why would he? It was just some stupid little crush, really, and that’s all it would ever be – all it ever could be. Liam was Zayn’s boyfriend, and Zayn was Harry’s best mate; that’s just how things were, and always would be, no matter how much Harry wished to replace Zayn in the relationship.

“Am I going to get laid, or should I just start filming so I can wank over you two fucking in the middle of the café?”

Zayn internally groaned, annoyed that Harry was ruining yet another chance to let Liam toss him off under the table, reluctantly parting the two of them. Liam made a small whine of protest, which Zayn ignored. “Whatever, fuck face. Who’s stupid enough to fuck Haz?” he directed his question towards Liam, but Harry rolled his eyes at his best friend’s words.

“Louis”

“He’s still in hospital,” Harry reminded Liam, taking another bite of his chips as he slouched in his seat.

“No, he’s not!” Liam protested, wrapping an arm around Zayn’s shoulder, “they let him out. He’s just not allowed to go near knives”

Harry contemplated Liam’s words for a moment, before deciding that it was no use saying no – it’s not as if he was going to get any better, anyway. He wasn’t getting any offers now, or ever, if he was going to be completely honest. “Fine, he’ll do”

Liam and Zayn changed the same grin, and Harry decided to make his way to school when he saw the two boys exchanging glances between their crotches. Gross.

~*~

Harry sat on the bus, scrolling through his saved pictures of Liam; it wasn’t that weird, he thought, to save pictures from someone’s Facebook profile – right? A small smile tugged on his lips as he saw one where Liam’s smile was almost the size of his phone screen. It was just a normal crush, on his best friend’s boyfriend, that was all. Seriously, that was all it was – really.

~*~

It was 9pm, now, and Zayn had all but dragged Harry alongside by him. They were outside Nialls, and Harry took one last final drag before stumping it out on the ground.

“You’re gonna lose it tonight, Haz” Zayn slapped him on the back, doing the same to his own cigarette, “I can feel it”

Harry rolled his eyes; it’s not that he wasn’t excited for this, because, really, he was – how could he not be? He was going to lose his virginity; maybe he just wanted to lose it with someone else, someone going by the name of Liam Payne. “Brilliant” he muttered under his breath, suppressing a groan when Liam crossed the road, hand in hand with Louis, and kissed Zayn firmly on the lips.

“Where is everyone?” Liam asked, letting go of Louis’ hand. Harry caught Louis’ gaze, who had his head tilted and examining every one of his features – it made Harry feel a little uncomfortable, and was glad when Zayn simply shrugged in response.

“Dunno,” Zayn smiled, offering a hand out to Louis to shake, “you remember Harry, right, Lou?”

Ignoring the gesture, Louis blinked up at Harry. “Yeah, wow, sure… no” his brows furrowed, before bursting into a fit of giggles, “I like you. You’ve got curly hair”

“How’s the treatment going, Louis?” Zayn returned his arm back beside him, not offended in the slightest, smiling softly.

“Oh, yeah, wow; yeah, it’s okay. I can now wear braces again…” Louis paused, turning his head towards the sky and let his eyes flicker over the shimmering stars, “and eat yoghurt, hazelnuts and super noodles. I’m not sick if they let me play with the cats. It’s like, wow, you know?”

Harry did not know, and he was beginning to hate Zayn (not Liam; never Liam. Liam was everything pure in the world) for setting him up with a boy whose brain had clearly ran off.

“Well, that’s encouraging” Zayn smiled, intertwining his fingers with Liam’s.

Louis gasped, wrapping his arms around Zayn’s torso. “Oh, thank you, you’re so nice! Wow” he pressed his lips against Zayn, who backed away immediately, and felt himself being pulled away.

“Lou, Lou,” Liam rolled his eyes, used to his friend’s unusual behaviour, “Harry’s going to be looking after you tonight, yeah?”

Eyes widening, Louis burst into laughter. “Oh, wow! Really, would you?”

Harry blinked, clearing his throat as Zayn and Liam nodded in unison. “Yep,” Zayn squeezed Liam’s hand to make sure no hard feelings were left from Louis’ kiss.

“Oh, wow! You’re so nice – and I bet you won’t make me eat anything”

“No,” Harry chuckled nervously, looking over to Liam for help, running a hand through his curls, “no”

A huge smile lit up on Louis’ face, and he jumped into Harry’s arms. “Thank you” he mumbled against his neck, eyes fluttering shut. Harry hands shaking slightly, he placed his large hands gently on the small of Louis’ back and patted lightly, before feeling the body leave his as quickly as it came.

The door to the house opened, revealing a very drunk Niall in only his boxers (not that it was any different from his usual attire, though) and Louis gasped again and ran into his arms. “Wow, you’re lovely!” he giggled, and wasn’t insulted when Niall pushed him away. “Where’s the kitchen? I want to see the kitchen!”

Niall raised a brow, seeing the three boys in the doorway merely shrug, and pointed behind him. “It’s through there”

“Oh, wow,” Louis said slowly, taking in the information. “Thank you!” he giggled, before running into the kitchen and leaving all four boys to join the house which was thumping with heavy bass.

Harry sighed, for what seemed like the tenth time today, and followed Liam, Zayn and Niall into the living room where the hundreds of people were gathered; most people were grinding up against each other dirtily, some making out on the sofa (were those girls naked?), and it wasn’t long before Niall was lost in the crowd and Liam and Zayn had joined in the frottage. Harry couldn’t tear his eyes away from the way Liam’s bum was pushing against Zayn’s crotch, staring for longer then he probably should have, and sulked off into the kitchen. Clattering of jars was heard, and Harry’s eyes landed on Louis – what a surprise.

“Hi”

Louis looked towards where the voice had come from, standing on his tip-toes on a chair and rummaging through a cupboard. “This is so, so wicked” he smiled, stepping down off the chair, “they’ve got such cool food. Look at it all! Wow”

Harry furrowed his brows, chewing on his lips nervously. “Right… are you hungry, or something?”

“Oh, no. You mustn’t eat it; just arrange it”

It was only then Harry noticed that nearly every piece of canned food had been aligned properly, stacked neatly on each neatly shelf. Well.

“They haven’t got it organised properly at all. There, much better” Louis grinned at his success, sighing contently, “I don’t feel sick now”

Harry nodded, unsure of what he should say; what could he say? “Cool”

“So, are you going to fuck me later?”

“Pardon?” Harry almost choked on his own spit, clearing his throat to cover up the sound.

“You know, like Liam said” Louis rolled his eyes, still looking over the masterpiece he’d created around the kitchen.

“He said that?”

“Oh, yeah”

Harry chewed on the inside of his cheek; of course Liam said that, it was his idea after all. It was hitting him harder that Liam really had no idea about Harry’s never ending high school crush, and it seemed that he never would – he was completely oblivious. “You want a spliff or something?” he sighed, picking one out of his pocket and offering it to Louis.

“No. I can’t” Louis looked down at the ground, his voice small, “it makes you hungry”

“Well,” Harry chuckled, putting it to his lip and lighting it, “I don’t mind”

Louis looked away from the drug between Harry’s lips, “I do”

“Sorry…” Harry mumbled, taking a drag and sucking in his bottom lip at Louis’ reaction. Hesitantly, leaning forward, he placed a soft kiss to Louis’ cheek and felt his cheeks turn a bright shade of pink.

Louis’ breath hitched, his own cheeks turning the same colour as Harry’s, a small smile tugging on his lips. “Oh,” he breathed, “wow. You can keep me company, yeah?”

“Yeah”

~*~

Harry wasn’t sure how it’d happened, but it was now the crack of dawn and all that was filling his ears was the sound of the trampoline in Niall’s back garden squeaking against Louis’ weight.

“Oh, wow!” Louis giggled, his voice high as his arms flared everywhere, “this is lovely, lovely, lovely! Wow!”. Dropping on his back, catching his breath, Louis turned his head to the side and breathed in the air which smelled of sex, sweat and alcohol.

Harry’s brows furrowed, leaning his forearms on the edge, “you okay, Louis?”

“Get up here. You’ve got to bounce on it, it’s amazing! Wow…”

Chuckling, Harry threw his cigarette behind him and climbed onto the trampoline; it was fun, he’d admit it, jumping as high as he possibly could and seeing Louis’ body bounce lightly beneath his own. “Oh, shit” he lost his balance, falling on top of Louis – he managed to not land on top of the boy, though, instead landing on all fours and his face inches away from Louis’.

Leaning up, Louis pressed a soft kiss to Harry’s lips before sighing loudly as he resumed his previous position. “It’s not good though, Harry. Is it?” he played idly with one of Harry’s hoodie strings, lacing it between his fingers.

“What? What is?”

“You fancy me”

Harry was a little shocked by the statement Louis had made, chuckling nervously as he straddled the feather haired boy’s thighs. “I… sure? I –” he had no idea how Louis reached this conclusion, because Harry hadn’t really thought all that much into it.

Louis shook his head, giggling and flicked Harry’s nose. “But you really love Liam”

Groaning, Harry ran his hands down his face. “It shows then, yeah?”

“Fucking right it shows! Anyway, he told me”

Harry’s eyes widened, taking his hands away from his face immediately. “He told you?!” his voice had gone at least two octaves higher, staring disbelieving down at Louis, “what?!”. When Louis only blinked up at Harry, he groaned (it was almost a shout, really) and bowed his head into the boys chest. “Oh, fuck”

Louis sighed contently, running a hand calmingly through Harry’s curls. “He said that Zayn doesn’t love him properly, but you do, and it’s all fucked up as even though he totally loves him but still thinks you’re sweet”

“Sweet? She thinks I’m sweet?” Harry blinked, unamused, and let out a loud whine, “what the fuck…”. Louis let his hands snake down Harry’s arm, intertwining their fingers together and smiling softly to try and ease his negative emotions. “I mean, what would you do if everything was totally fucked up and you just don’t know what to do?”

“I stop eating until they take me to hospital”

Harry let out a snort of laughter; well, that was one way of coping with things. He wondered how long things had been like this for Louis, if the treatment he’d received had helped him even the slightest, but he was soon drawn out of his train of thought when the same boy who was occupying them interrupted him.

“We can do it now, if you like”

“Huh?” Harry looked down at Louis, expecting their eyes to join, and saw him leaning on his arm like a pillow.

Louis hummed in content, shifting slightly to make the weight on top of him more comfortable. “The sex; but you’ll have to be quick, though”

“Why?”

Shrugging, Louis giggled softly. “I took a shit load of pills”

All of Harry’s senses were suddenly awaken, and he shook Louis slightly. “Pills? What kind of pills?” he spoke loud, but he had no response, “Louis?! Oh, fuck”. Frantically looking around to see if anyone else had caught sight of what was going on, he climbed off of Louis and pulled him off the trampoline; carrying him fire man style, Harry caught sight of Zayn and Liam inside the house who were still grinding dirtily against each other despite the fact the sun was beginning to rise.

“Harry?” Liam ripped himself off Zayn when he saw Harry and Louis, rushing over towards him. “What happened to Lou? Is everything okay?!”

Harry shook his head, rubbing his eyes with his spare hand. “No, he told me he took a bunch of pills and –”

Sighing, Liam shook his head as Zayn locked their fingers together. “I usually take him to the hospital in the city when this happens”

“What?!” Harry was frantic now, his breathing becoming ragged, but he felt the body he was holding moving around slightly.

“Oh, wow” Louis blinked his eyes open, his hands lying flat on Harry’s bum and he burst into giggles as he squeezed it. “You have such a lovely bum, Harry”

Harry bowed his head in defeat, sighing softly as he gently placed him down on the ground. “You’re just… so…”

There were no words to describe Louis, really – he was just… Louis.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The one where Zayn and Liam are together, Harry is hopelessly in love with Liam and still a virgin, and Niall is just Niall – well, that’s until Louis comes out of treatment from his eating disorder and ends up falling head over heels for Harry who, still, day dreams about Liam in his chemistry lessons.

When Louis’ eyes flickered open, adjusting to the sunlight streaming in from the window, the first thing he realized was that his hand was all sticky. Groaning softly, he brought his hand up to his face for examination; it looked like it could’ve been someone’s sick, probably his own, but he didn’t particularly care – so, instead, he just wiped it off on the thin duvet that was covering his body. He considered going back to sleep, but as he turned over slowly Louis’s face collided with a foot. Eyebrows furrowed, Louis tapped the foot and giggled quietly when an annoyed grunt came from the other side of the couch he was laying on; the boy had blonde hair and was lying on top of the duvet Louis was under, only clad in his underwear. Pulling himself up, Louis swung his legs off of the couch and blinked as he took in his surroundings. It was all coming back to him, now – this was Liam’s house, and everyone had gotten severely wasted the previous night. Various people were scattered around the living room, alcohol bottles and food on every surface, liquid thrown onto the once clean, white walls. Louis didn’t have a hangover, really, and he looked down his body to see that he, too, was only wearing his underwear. There were a pair of dark blue jeans next to the couch, and also a low cut grey t-shirt; Louis was pretty sure the t-shirt wasn’t his, probably belonging to the boy he had shared a bed with for the night, but he didn’t care. Pulling on the t-shirt, which hung loose on his small frame, Louis picked the jeans up gently as he gently padded out of the room and made sure he didn’t wake any of the other occupants.

Louis blinked hard as he made his way into the hallway and the kitchen, mouth agape, passing boys who were naked and passed out on the floor, placing his jeans on the counter to take some water out of the fridge. He liked water; it had no calories, kept you hydrated, and (Louis’ favourite quality about it) if you drunk a lot of it before a weigh in then you would appear heavier then you were – the perfect delusion was created. As he closed the fridge, he noticed a calendar on it and in bright, red ink was the date 2nd of August circled; that was today, right? ‘Mum and Dad home’ was written under it in barely readable handwriting, and Louis tilted his head in confusion. He should probably tell Liam, because the house was a state and would take hours to clean up, so he made his way out of the kitchen and jogged up to his friend’s room, taking huge gulps from the water bottle as he did so. The door creaked open as Louis peaked around it into Liam’s room, and he tiptoed over Harry’s body lying on the floor to the bed where he found the boy he was looking for, and also Zayn. 

“Li?” Louis mumbled, shaking Liam’s shoulders gently, sitting on the edge of the mattress, “Liam?”

“Fuck off, Zayn” Liam grumbled, turning over to where Louis’ voice was coming from, burying his face deeper into the pillow.

“It’s me, Lou” Louis blinked down at his friend’s body, chewing on his bottom lip as he waited for Liam to awake from his slumber.

“Crazy bastard”

“Yes –”

“Never fucking eats”

Louis sighed, not affected by Liam’s words as he was more focused on telling him that his parents were coming home today. “Right… but, Liam, don’t you parents get back today?”

“Tomorrow” Liam groaned, almost a whine, pulling the duvet tighter around his body.

“Today’s the 2nd, isn’t it?” Louis pushed, fixing a piece of hair that was dangling in front of Liam’s closed eyes.

“Tomorrow” Liam repeated, returning to the previous position of where his head lay on Zayn’s chest, and Louis only shrugged in response; if Liam said they were coming back tomorrow, then they probably were – who was Louis to say otherwise?

Standing up from where he was sat on the edge of Liam’s bed, Louis caught a glimpse of himself in the body length mirror; he looked anything but fresh, but Louis only ran his fingers through his slightly greasy hair before stepping around the clothes that looked as if they had never seen a wardrobe all their life. A small smile crept on his lips as he caught sight of Harry’s limp body, and Louis shook his head as he peeled off piece of paper which had ‘virgin’ scribbled on it from his forehead. Poor Harry, Louis thought – he was more than willing to let Harry lose his virginity to him, but whatever. Scrunching it up, Louis bent down and pressed a soft kiss to where the note had previously been, and left the room as quietly as he had come.

~*~

Louis closed the front door of Liam’s house behind him, making sure he heard the click before walking up the drive; Liam had a nice house, really – plants and trees surrounded his house, and it would be hard to believe the mess the inside brought. He caught sight of a car a few meters in front of him, and Louis let out a small gasp when his eyes landed on Liam’s parents taking the suitcases out of the car.

“Oh, hello, Louis!” Michelle smiled warmly, her heels clicking as she made her way towards the gate, “I take it you’ve been helping Liam clear up, then?”

Louis only blinked at her, nodding slowly as he bit the inside of his cheek. “Oh, yeah, totally”

“I expect he told you about my important meeting today?”

Only nodding in response, Louis wondered briefly if the amount of lipstick Michelle was wearing would be enough to cover the whole of Africa.

“Right, can we get in? I want a fucking fry up” Mark grumbled, slamming the car door shut as his suitcase rolled behind him.

Michelle rolled her eyes, shaking her head at her husband, “it was lovely to see you again, Louis. I must say, you’re looking much better than the last time I saw you. Well done”. Her words seemed genuine, and Louis put on a small, fake smile in return.

“Oh, yeah… wow. Thanks, you too” Louis said before turning away, the scruff of his shoes getting worse due to the rough pavement.

Mark raised an eyebrow as he looked back at Louis, who was only a few meters away, scoffing. “What’s he on, hunger strike or something?”

Michelle sighed quietly, ushering her husband into the house to stop him from saying anything else. “Liam, darling – we’re home!”

~*~

Bus journeys were never the nicest thing, but Louis didn’t seem to mind – he didn’t mind a lot, really, though. He was on his way home, where his parents and younger sister were, and Louis passed the time by watching the world go by via the window. There was a lot of grass in London, considering it was mostly covered by infrastructure, and Louis found it fascinating how it managed to stay alive with so much pollution in the air; of course, like most things, he didn’t dwell on it – why would he?

Louis shifted in his seat as he tore his gaze away from the window, noticing how everyone seemed to be eating – ingesting food. It was weird, and Louis simply couldn’t understand why someone would do that to themselves willingly. Did they not see how one bite of chocolate would be the biggest regret one could ever make? Furrowing his eyebrows, Louis continued to fidget in his seat; this bus really needed to invest in some new chairs. Feeling something underneath him, Louis turned around in his seat and sat a post-it note stuck to the chair. Louis peeled it gently off the chair and chewed on his lip in confusion when he saw what it said.

Eat.

~*~

Louis closed the door to his house quietly, kicking off his shoes in the hallway. He could hear faint giggling coming from the kitchen, and he quietly made his way into the room; his parents seemed so happy, feeding each other toast as well as Louis’ younger sister Daisy. Louis stood sheepishly in the doorway, waiting until his presence was acknowledged, blinking towards his parents until his mum, Jay, tore her eyes away from her husband. 

“Oh, hello, darling!” Jay giggled, finishing off her toast as she stood up to place the plate she was previously using in the sink. Mark followed after her, grinning as he approached Louis.

“You had some breakfast?” Mark asked, in a voice which could be seen as patronizing but he only held good intentions.

Louis only nodded quickly, tucking a few strands of hair behind his ear. “Oh, yeah. Liam does crazy bacon sandwiches – it’s mad”

Mark chuckled, rubbing Louis’ back soothingly. “That’s great, kiddo. I’m going for a shower”

“You want me to feed Daisy?” Louis asked as Jay began to wash up, taking the bowl from the side and making airplane noises with the spoon before she had a chance to reply.

“Oh, would you, sweetie?” Jay smiled, walking towards the door, “I have so many things to do today”

Louis continued feeding Daisy, giggling softly. “It’s my final clinic day,” he spoke up, stopping Jay in her tracks, “they’ll let me go if I’ve gained half a kilo”

Jay gasped, covering her mouth with her hand. “Really? That’s wonderful, honey! You’ve done it, right?”

Nodding quickly, Louis blinked at his mother. “Oh, yeah… totally! For sure”

Giving her soon a quick thumbs up, Jay left her son alone with his younger sister. Louis carried on feeding Daisy, cooing at how adorable she was, until his phone buzzed in his back pocket indicating he had a text message. He furrowed his brows when he saw it was from an unknown number, and swallowed thickly when he saw the message. All it said was eat.

~*~

“Hey”

Mark turned around, grinning at his son from the doorway. “Hey, kiddo. You look cheerful!” he pointed towards the new clothing Louis was wearing, bright red jeans and a striped shirt, ruffling his hair.

“Thanks, Dad. I feel great!” Louis replied honestly (although it mostly had to do with the spliff he’d just smoked), “the taxi’s here”

“Taxi?”

“They send it from the clinic to make sure I go”

Mark slapped his hand against his forehead lightly, shaking his head. “Of course, Lou”

“They’re signing her off, darling” Jay spoke from the corner of the kitchen, Daisy on her hip with a dummy in her mouth.

Mark gasped, pinching Louis’ cheeks gently. “Fantastic! We knew you’d make it through” he pressed a sloppy kiss to his son’s cheek, “wonderful! Don’t forget to say thank you”

“Oh… I will, totally”

~*~

Louis examined the weights in his hands, twirling them around in his hands with his head tilted to the side. Somewhere deep in his conscious he knew this was wrong, but Louis had pushed those thoughts so far back that they were only faint whispers by now. He lifted his shirt to tuck the weights into his underwear, not being able to put them in his pockets as they were checked to assure people weren’t doing exactly what he was, making sure they were secure when he pulled it back down into place.

“You got enough room back there, Lou?”

Louis looked up from his crotch, blinking up at the taxi driver through the rear view mirror. “You wouldn’t tell me on me, would you Paul?”

Paul chuckled, shaking his head as he turned a corner. “Of course not, Lou. You know me – hear no, see no, speak no.

“They’ll sign me out if I’m half a kilo up”

“Do you know what you’re doing?”

Louis nodded, smiling back at Paul. “Oh, totally – I’m so fine”

~*~

Louis was stood on the scales, smiling at the old, wrinkly woman who looked like she didn’t want to be here as much as himself. He wasn’t nervous, not in the slightest – why would he be? The weights were sure to show that he’d gained over a kilo, and that’s all he could ask for.

“Can I see your pockets?”

Now grinning, Louis turned his pockets inside out to show that there was nothing inside them. The woman didn’t look like she believed that he’d gained all that weight so fast, but it was obvious that she wanted to get out of here as soon as possible so she settled for writing down that Louis was 98 pounds on her clipboard.

As Louis stepped out of the room, back into the waiting room, he saw a woman (who appeared more like a girl – she can’t have been much older than Louis) chugging down a huge water bottle like her life depended on it. There were already other bottles on the floor, and Louis blinked at her patiently until she slammed the final bottle down on the floor. She had wavy, long brown hair and she was beautiful in an obvious way – Louis wondered what her story may be, how she’d ended up in the clinic like himself, but he was drawn out of his thoughts when she spoke.

“880 grams each” she seemed proud of herself for finishing both bottles off without needing the toilet, and Louis was shocked that she’d managed to finish them avoiding doing so.

“Cool”

“That’s over one and a half kilos, right?”

The clogs in Louis’ brain began spinning, working out the maths as fast as he could. “1760”

“Sorted”

~*~

“Weight is correct, demeanour… satisfactory. Attendance, interaction, compliance… yes, yes, yes. Mood… yes. Oh, how’s your mood?”

“Oh, fantastic – really!” Louis smiled, looking up from where his gaze had been fixated on the papers to the woman checking them. Her bleached blonde hair was tied back in a tight bun, and she had a stubborn look to her face – like dealing with people like himself was just another chore in her dreary life.

“Excellent” she smiled, hands linked together, sarcasm leaking from her tone. “So, before you leave us to start your new life, it’s important that you understand… erm –”

“Louis” Louis chirped, watching as the woman was flicking to the front of his file to see who she was talking to, grinning.

The woman only blinked back at Louis, pouting. “That,” she began again, irritated by the interruption, “if you are trouble again, then you treat us as a place of safety and refuge. We like to think of restoration as a big family you can revisit any time it’s necessary. Here’s my number if there’s an emergency – calls after six are double. We’re all on your side, providing you have arrangements in place for the fees. How’s that sound?”

Louis took in all the information, nodding along slowly after she finished each sentence. “Thank you, I’m so grateful – really” he smiled, standing up and walking out of the door he was glad he’d never have to see ever again.

~*~

“Er, chips please” Harry winced at how awkward he sounded, standing in the dinner queue while in the school cafeteria. The food they served here was shit, but he was hungry and Harry was sure that a plate of chips wouldn’t kill him – well, he hoped not anyway. Paying the cashier the right amount, Harry padded over to an empty table; none of his friends were in yet, still in an exam for a subject Harry didn’t take, but he was fine with sitting on his own – it was normal, really. Throwing a chip into his mouth, Harry pulled out his phone and started to play some stupid game (which Harry secretly adored with his life and soul) where you threw penguins at polar bears; he probably should find something better to do with his time, though.

“Can I sit here?”

Harry looked up at the voice, seeing Louis with an apple in his hand and shrugged. “Yeah, sure, go for it”

“Oh, cool. So nice of you” Louis smiled softly, putting his school bag down next to his chair and resting his forearms on the table before him. “Whoa,” his eyes widened at the plate of chips in front of Harry, running a hand through his hair, “you must be hungry”

“Yeah… bit of a hangover, I guess” Harry took a bite from another chip as he watched Louis lean over and rearrange the food into a more organised manner. He was a little taken back, but he decided not to prod on the subject – he might not have been the brightest tool in the box, but Harry knew when he should keep his mouth closed. “You gonna eat that?” he asked, nodding towards the apple next to Louis.

“Oh, totally!” Louis responded quickly, picking up the apple and throwing it between hands, “I’m better now. I’m totally better”

Harry blinked at Louis, sighing deeply as he put down the chip he was about to eat. “How do you do it?”

“What?”

“Come on, Lou. I mean, you never eat anything – your parents must notice or something, I dunno” Harry mumbled the last few words, shoving more chips into his mouth to stop himself from saying anything else.

Louis only blinked at Harry, not sure what he should reply; no one had ever told him anything that Harry just did, so he put down his apple and rubbed his eyes. “I like you, Harry”

“Okay…” Harry said slowly, clearing his throat as he waited for Louis to continue.

“So I’m going to show you” Louis pulled Harry’s plate of chips towards him, picking up the knife and fork he had yet to use. “You have to do a lot of talking, I’m good at talking” he began, cutting up the chips, “you do that while you’re cutting things up – a lot. Then, questions” he brought up the food on his fork to his mouth, stopping as more words tumbled out of his mouth, “did you have fun at the party? It was great, wasn’t it?”

Harry wasn’t quite sure what was happening, instead shaking his head and deciding to let Louis carry on. “Er, yeah – it was great”

While Harry was talking, Louis brought down the chips it looked like he was looking to the plate again. “I love these chips – here, you should try one” he put one into Harry’s mouth, grinning as he opened his mouth to accept it.

“Hang on, you didn’t –“

“You’re not quite sure what I’m on about, but I keep distracting you. Then I up the ante” Louis took Harry’s can of coke, bringing it to his lips as if he was going to drink it (of course, he never did). “Oh, wow. I love this stuff!” he put the can on the table again, continuing to cut up the food into small pieces, “you’re reassured I want some more, and I’ll keep waving it at you until you stop looking at me”. Louis looked at his watch, gasping as he put the food into one corner of the plate. “Oh, God – look at the time! I’ve gotta dash, bye!” he stood up, pretending to walk away and then sat back down again with a huge grin on his face. “There you go. It’s easy, right?”

“That’s impressive” Harry nodded, taking a small bite of the chips which Louis had cut up into slithers, shaking his head in disbelief.

“Cheers”

“But aren’t you kind of, you know, lying to everyone?

Louis shook his head, “I’m so better. I got discharged from the clinic”

“Seems a bit fucked up…” Harry mumbled under his breath, stuffing more chips into his mouth because he knows he should stop talking, but the words keep tumbling out of his mouth.

“What?”

“Just said it seems a bit fucked up, that’s all”

Louis blinked at Harry, a little taken back. “Oh, wow…” he tilted his head, voice quiet. “But you see,” Louis breathed after a moment, laughing bitterly, “it’s like nobody’s fucking business; and it’s not exactly like anybody cares, so…”

Harry almost choked on the chip he was swallowing, furrowing his brows. “I care?”

Before Louis had a chance to reply, Zayn came over with two plates full of chips and sat down next to Harry. “I was just chatting to Lou, Zayn…” Harry mumbled, wishing Zayn would go away because now was most definitely not that time for another conversation about when and where he should lose his virginity.

Zayn looked up from his food, grinning. “Oh, hey Lou. How’s dippy world?”

Louis looked down at the table, only shrugging in response. He’d never liked Zayn that much, and the way he was talking to him right now wasn’t exactly making Louis’ judgement on him any different.

“He’s better; he just got discharged from the clinic” Harry interrupted, wanting to stick up for Louis because Zayn could be such an asshole sometimes – weather he intended to be or not.

Zayn made a face, raising a brow at Harry. “Alright, Jesus, no need to be a complete utter waste of fucking space, you wank –”

Before Louis realized what he was doing, he pushed Zayn’s drink enough for it to spill all over his lap. Zayn screamed (a manly scream, of course) and the entire cafeteria roared in laughter at the sight of a huge wet patch down his trousers.

“Oh, wow, bummer Zayn – look like you pissed yourself” Louis smirked, biting the inside of his cheek to stop himself from laughing too. Harry let out a snort, popping another chip into his mouth before Zayn pulled him up and out of the cafeteria. Sighing, Louis rubbed his eyes and pulled Harry’s plate towards him; he almost had a heart attack right there and then in the middle of the cafeteria when he saw the same message from earlier written out by the chips.

Eat.

**Author's Note:**

> zouisstylinson.tumblr.com


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